Food Wars

Do me a favor. Do an internet search for old photos of Americans going about their daily lives; walking down the sidewalk in New York or attending a baseball game. One notices two things right off the bat: everyone is well-dressed (suit and tie for men, dresses for women) and there are no obese Americans. Obesity is defined as a BMI (body mass index calculated by dividing one’s weight in kilograms by the square of one’s height in meters) of 30 or higher.

The problem is that obesity is often treated as a lifestyle choice, not a medical condition. To be blunt, over 40% of Americans are medically obese. The cost of obesity is estimated to be $385 billion today and, if one factors in lost productivity, the total cost is $2.6 trillion by 2060, with hundreds of billions representing direct medical expenses. This is a conversation that we need to have.

So, what’s the problem? In 1940, we consumed 3100 calories per day. Today that figure is 3600. That is 500 calories more per day which works out to be around one pound gained each week. The other theory, one which I subscribe to, is that processed foods are harder to digest and lead to weight gain. In 1940, less than 5 percent of the American diet was processed foods; today that percentage is over 60 percent. Cheap, addictive processed food ticks off all the boxes: price, packaging, flavor (sugar and salt), marketing, lobbying, and availability.

I often hear that education is the solution. I don’t buy it. Take cigarettes. In the 1950s, 45 percent of adult Americans smoked and, today, that figure is 18.5 percent including e-cigarettes. Federal taxation of cigarettes which began to rise in the 1980s, was probably the main cause along with changes in the cultural perception of smoking. Note that a pack of cigarettes was about a dollar in 1980 and today it is over six dollars although, in some places such as New York, that price can soar to $10. Adjusted for inflation, the price of cigarettes has grown at least 140 percent. Double prices and you sell half as much.

Jamie Oliver provides another lesson in the failure of education. He filmed a TV series in West Virginia in a county that had the highest obesity rate in the country. His efforts to improve the local diet made no difference. In 2000, the obesity rate in Cabell County was 23 percent; today it is 41.8 percent and by 2030, the obesity rate in West Virginia is projected at
58 percent.

Talk is cheap and changing eating habits is virtually impossible. Yes, Ozempic holds some hope for the future (4 percent of Americans have prescriptions) but it’s yet another pill and doesn’t change the quality of one’s diet. And, if you stop taking it, the weight comes back.

What would work? Massive taxation of processed foods, a hugely unpopular step. Putting cooking classes back into school. Overhauling school lunches, as Jamie Oliver tried to do. Massive federal regulation of the food industry, yet another nonstarter.

In short, we are at war. The enemy is numerous, well-financed, and dug-in for the long-term. In wars, there are no easy solutions. You slog through the mud every day, making little perceptible progress, but you put your head down and keep fighting, even during the darkest days.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel, but each of us who loves to cook needs to keep on cooking. Home cooking saves money, it’s fun and satisfying, it builds families and communities. Stop trying to talk sense into America—instead, cook for friends and family. Fill them with the joy of cooking.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in our kitchens and our schools, we will defend our small farming families, whatever the cost, and we will invite to our table friends and foes alike to celebrate the joys of a happier, well-fed future.”